Naming the Puppy

Happy Monday to you all! Up here in Canada it is the Civic Holiday, which means DAY OFF! YAY!

Whether you are on vacation, or if you are trudging your way to work, I thought I would help bring a smile to your day with an excerpt to my contemporary romance, “Work in Progress“.

Keep reading past the excerpt for a “behind the scenes” look to my inspiration for this funny interchange between Reese and Nikki.

Enjoy!

“Treadmill Guy is Contractor Guy?” Nikki’s jaw dropped. “This is getting interesting.” She stuffed a handful of popcorn in her mouth. “So have you jumped him yet?”

Reese had to laugh. Nikki always cut to the chase, even with a mouthful of food.

“No, it’s not interesting, Nik. A man in position to ruin the lives of poor, defenseless children isn’t interesting, he’s maniacal.” The two friends sat on the couch catching up on their lives. Their schedules often conflicted, but they always made time for each other no matter what.

“He’s not a maniac, he’s a hot guy doing his job. Listen sweetie, I can only imagine how upset you are over what’s going on at the hospital and I get upset too when I think about it. But it’s not Treadmill Contractor Guy’s fault.”

Reese’s lips twitched. “Treadmill Contractor Guy?”

“We have to name him. First rule of dating – “

“ – you never name the puppy.”

“You never name the puppy. You just play with him and rub his belly, give him a nickname, and then leave him begging for more.” She thought about it, swirling the last bits of the wine in her glass. “Fine. He was Treadmill Guy when you met him, so he can stay Treadmill Guy.”

Reese and Nikki stared at each other. Finally they burst out laughing, falling over on each other. “Oh, Nikki. I needed this. Girl talk, popcorn and wine.” She pointed to the two empty bottles of what was red wine sitting on the coffee table. “All this crap with the hospital and my connection to Livvy gone and Josh was right there. In my face. Wanting to know what was wrong, what he could do to help. It was so annoying.”

“Josh? Josh is Treadmill Guy?” Nikki saw the guilt on Reese’s face.

”Oh, honey. You’re screwed. You just named the puppy.”

“I did not!”

“Don’t look at me. You’re the one who named him. So you like him, huh? Maybe dinner first before you jump his bones?”

Reese laughed. “You’re crazy, you know that? I don’t want to jump his bones. I don’t even want to look at him. He annoys me. So I can name him if I want because he’s not a puppy. He’s definitely not my puppy. Josh Montgomery is a rattlesnake that poisons everything he comes in contact with.” She chugged the last of her wine. “Another bottle, my dear?”

Nikki smiled, her cheeks rosy. “This is me you’re talking to.”

Reese laughed. “Right. On my way.”

While Reese staggered to the kitchen for another bottle of wine, Nikki thought about Josh the Treadmill-Slash-Contractor Guy and laughed.

She named the puppy.

She’s doomed.

Like what you’ve read so far? Download Work in Progress for your Kindle today! It’s also available for Nook and is available in paperback (for those of you who still like the smell and feel of “real” books).

Behind the Scene

I chuckled all the way through writing this scene because it reminded me so much of discussions I would have with my girlfriends about our current love interests. The guys we met or went out on dates with were never described by their name. It was always a descriptor: “Gym Guy”, “Nebulous Nick”, and when a guy we liked turned out to be a class-A jerk, “FH”, which stood for “F@#! Head”. It’s not that we were chronic daters, always having a new guy each week, but it was always a good to refresh our memories of who these guys were. Often their namesakes meant they didn’t hang on longer than one date. Here is an example:

“Adam texted me late last night wondering what I was up to.”

“Who’s Adam again?”

“Mr. I-Think-I’m-Important-Because-I’m-Always-Checking-My-Phone.”

“Oh yeah, Rude Dude! Sounds like he was looking for some late night action.”

“Totally. What a jerk.”

See? Totally helps. And with a name like “Rude Dude” you gotta know that he didn’t stay around for long. But I always knew my friends were getting more serious about a guy when they said his real name more often. When “this guy I just met” turns into “you know, that cute guy I told you about? The really nice one who brought me flowers on our second date?”, and finally turns into, “Ryan”.

I always hope that one day, all my single friends can find a puppy, er, a man, they want to share a name with and call their own. Maybe one day that will happen to me. So long as it’s a hypoallergenic puppy. You know, one that doesn’t shed too much.

I know my friends and I weren’t the only ones who did this, comment below and share your nicknames or code names for past dates, or maybe current pet names for your sweetie pie.